Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-01-29

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could swim. They got ashore as |
expected. A mile of water is not Il
very great undertaking for - strong
swimmer. or even two miles are not.
But | cannot stop thinking about those
ON broken pieces Of the ship. The
great
GOSPEL SHIP
is the finest vessel of the universe and
can carry more passengers than any
craft ever constructed, and you could
no more wreck it than you'd wreck the
throne of God Almighty. ! wish all
the people would come aboard of her.
| could not promise a smooth voyage,
for ofttimes it will be tempestous or q
chopped sea, but could promise safe
arrival for all who took on that Great
Eastern, so called by me because its
commander came out of the east, the
star of the east a badge of his author
ity.
But a vast multitude do not take reg
ular passage. Their theology is broken
in pieces, and their life is broken in
pieces, and their habits are broken in
pieces, and their worldly and spiritual
prospects are broken in pieces, and yet
believe they are going to reach the
shining shore, and | am encouraged by
the experience of those people who are
spoken of in the text: Some on broken
pieces of the ship
Our object in this sermon is to en-
courage all those who cannot take the
whole system of religion as we believe
it, but who really belize something, to
come ashore on that one plank. ! do
not underrate the value Of II great theo-
logical system, but were in all the
Bible is there anything that says: Be-
lieye in
JOHN CALVIN
and thou shalt be saved; or believe in
Arminius and thou shalt be saved; Oh
believe in the Synod of bort and thou
shalt be saved; or believe in the Thirty.
nine Articles and thou shalt be saved?
\ man may be orthodox and 20 to hell,
or heterodoX and 90 to heaven. The
man who in the deep affection Of hi,
heart accepts Christ is saved. and the
man who does not accept Him is lost.
| believe in both the Heidelberg and
Westminster catechisms, and wish you
all did, but YOU may believe in nothing
they contain except the one idea that
Christ came to
SAVE SINNERS,
and that You are one of them, and vou
are instantly rescued. Ii YOU can come
in on the grand old ship, | would
rather have YOU get aboard, but if you
car find only "A piece of wood as LONG
rs the human body, or a piece as wide
as the outspread human arms, and
either of them is a piece of the cross,
come in on that piece. Tens of thou
sands of people are to-day kept out OF
the kingdom of God because they can
not believe everything.
was talking with "a man thoughtful
about his soul who has lately travelled
through New England and passed tn,
night at Andover. He says to me: 81
cannot believe that in this life the des.
tiny is irrevocably fixed; | think there
will be another opportunity of repent.
ance after DEATH | say TO him: .'My
brother, what has that to do with YOU
Don't YOU realize that the mar who
waits for another chance after deatl
when he has n good chance before
death is n stark fool? Had not yor
better take the plank that is thrown tc
YOU now and head for shore rather
than wait for a plank that may by in
visible hands be thrown to you after
you are dead? Do as YOU please, bu'
rs for myself, with pardon for all m,
sins offered me now and all the
JOYS OF | AND ETERNITY
offered me now. | instantly take then
chance as wise men think they can pee
off or twist out of A Scripture passage
that has for all the Christian centuries
been interpreted another way.
You say: II do not like Princeton
theology, or New Haven theology, Of
Andover theology" ! do not ask 20,
on board either of these great men O.
war, their port holes filled with tn,
great seige guns of ecclesiastical battle
But | DO ask you TO take the one plank
of the Gospel that you do believe il
and strike ont for the pearl-strunl
beach Of Heaven.
Says some other man: Il would at
tend TO religion if | was quite sur,
about the doctrine Of
ELECTION AND FREE AGENCY,
but that IN Xes me all up" Thost
things used to bother me, but | hav,
no more perplexity ABOUT them, for
say to myself: If love Christ anc
live a good, honest, useful life, 1 an
elected to be saved; and if | do no.
love Christ and live a bad life, | will be
damned, and all the theological scmin.
aries OF the universe cannot make ii
any different / iloundered q lone
while in the sea of sin and doubt. and
was as rough as the Mediterranean on
the fourteenth night when they threw
the grain overheard, but | saw there
was mercy for a sinner. and that plank
| took, and | have been warming my
self by the bright fire on the shore for
three decades.
While | I'm talking to another man
about his soul he tells me: II do not
become a Christian because ! do not
believe there is any hell ut ALL" All,
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